QUESTION:
In the Your Government at Work section of this week’s Health Law Express, it looks like the DEA and SAMHSA are intent on allowing controlled medications to be prescribed through telehealth. Will other telehealth allowances implemented by the federal government during the Public Health Emergency continue after it ends?
OUR ANSWER FROM HORTYSPRINGER ATTORNEY CHARLES CHULACK:
The short answer is “yes,” with the federal government extending some telehealth flexibilities temporarily and others permanently. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (“CAA”), for example, temporarily extended, through December31, 2024, the expansion of the types of practitioners that could bill Medicare for telehealth services. This allows physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists to provide, and bill for, telehealth services provided to Medicare patients. The CSA also temporarily allows: (1) patients to continue to access telehealth services in any geographic area (and not just rural areas), (2) patients to receive telehealth services in their homes rather than requiring travel to a health care facility, and (3) some telehealth visits to be delivered using audio-only technology (but see below for permanent changes for behavioral telehealth patients).
Many of the permanent changes to the rules have to do with behavioral telehealth services. For example, going forward behavioral health patients can be provided with telehealth services in their homes and do not have to travel to a hospital or other health care facility. In addition, Federal Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Centers will qualify as distant sites (the site from where the practitioner providing the telehealth service is located) for behavior telehealth services. Finally, behavioral health patients will continue to be able to access audio-only behavioral health services.
These extensions reflect a greater acceptance of the utility of telehealth services in the provision of health care to patients. Don’t be surprised if in the coming years there is an additional loosening of the telehealth rules resulting in an increased use of telehealth for patients. If you have a quick question about this, e-mail Charlie Chulack at CChulack@hortyspringer.com.